Breakaway Adventures: Muskies Exposed
Breakaway Adventures: Muskies Exposed
The 3rd Annual New York Musky Expo is on Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 4th at the Chautauqua Suites Hotel
Did you know? Western New York is Musky capital of, not only this state, but all of the USA!
Locally we have great musky fishing in Chautauqua Lake, the Niagara River, the Allegheny River, the Finger Lakes and numerous smaller lakes. WNY residents have the added benefit to being within an easy drive to Ontario’s Georgian Bay, where the Canadian Record Musky was caught by Kevin O’Brien, a whopping 65-pounder, and the 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River that produce a behemoth 69lb brute!
To celebrate our region’s importance in the Musky World, WNY is hosting the 3rd Annual New York Musky Expo on Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 4th at the Chautauqua Suites Hotel in Mayville, NY, right across the street from Chautauqua Lake.
Show hours are Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm and Sunday 9:00am-2:00pm. The New York Musky Expo is organized by Master Musketeer and President of New York Muskies Inc – Chapter 69, Captain Katia Rivers from Rochester, New York. Captain Rivers is a 5-time winner of the Muskies Inc Tournament Championship! In just one season, the Musky Queen Katia landed 81 Muskies!
Famous Chautauqua Lake is a mere 45 minutes to an hour away from Ellicottville, starting at Jamestown, NY and ending in Mayville, NY, approximately 17 miles in length. At an elevation of 1,308 feet above sea level, Chautauqua is higher than any of the Finger Lakes and is one of the highest navigable lakes in North America - definitely the highest musky lake that I know. Musky over 50 inches and 50 pounds are not only possible but have been recorded in this lake’s history.
Chautauqua's musky population is supported by an annual stocking of 13,000 fingerlings (8.5 to 9 inches) by the hatchery at Prendergast Point. Special regulations govern and safe guard the musky population. The season opens June 1st and ends November 30th; a minimum size limit of 40 inches and a daily limit of one fish can be kept.
Another interesting fact is that the management and culture of muskellunge was born on the waters of Chautauqua Lake, dating back to 1888. The Prendergast Hatchery is the only one raising a pure strain of muskellunge, eggs collected only from Chautauqua Lake.
Both species of musky are present in the lake - the smaller hybrid Tiger musky (a cross between a northern pike and muskellunge) are feisty and more aggressive than its larger cousin the true muskellunge, Esox masquinongy.
The strategies for catching musky are as varied as the lures manufactured to catch them, something that you’ll witness in person when you attend the Expo, a gazillion different lures and even more different color combinations! No one system works best and no one lure always catches the fish. Personal preference plays the biggest roll in catching the biggest musky. The more hours you spend on the water, under your ideal conditions, using your ideal bait will catch you your biggest muskies. It’s really a matter of numbers - the more lottery tickets you buy the better your chance of winning the jackpot.
For example, if you believe that muskies bite the best when the weather is ugly, high wind, rain, cold temperatures, then these are the days that you fish with confidence. Under these conditions you feel sure that you’ll catch a fish. Therefore, you will! Not because these are the only conditions that trigger a musky to hit, but rather because you understand through trial and error where the musky is during these conditions and how aggressive they might be. Thus you present the right lure the right way in the right spot. It’s very much like watching the Bills run their offense. If Josh Allen isn’t connecting with Stefon Diggs, then they’ll need to go to their run game with Allen and James Cook. Similarly in musky fishing, hurling heavy musky lures all day is hard work and not always productive so you’ll have to switch to running lures behind the boat.
Expanding your repertoire of techniques and strategies is important in becoming a better musky fisherman. Knowing when to hold-’em and when to fold-’em is a universal truth and there are many other parallels in the games that we play with real life experiences. Making the right decision at the right time takes practice, patience and self-motivation to keep on trying after a series of failures.
Muskies are called the fish of a thousand cast. If you do the math, in order for Katia to land 81 fish in a single season, she must have had to make 81,000 cast. If every cast takes 30 seconds then she must have spent 84 8-hour days to catch all those fish. I am sure she’ll be at the show so make sure you ask her how she did it!
Fly fishing for musky is even more challenging. Typically with several backcasts needed to present your fly, a fly fisherman will have to make 3 casts to a regular tackle fisherman’s one. The fish of 1,000 casts is all of a sudden the fish of 3,000 casts for the fly fisherman. Although the percentage of strikes for the fly fisherman might be a little higher, if you could only cover as much ground as someone trolling for musky, the number of daily or even seasonal catches is very small. The challenge of catching a fish on your terms - not theirs - is the greatest reward even if it’s only one!
Muskies must be appreciated for what they are, the greatest freshwater fish in existence. They are beautiful, majestic, hard hitters and leapers. They fight to the end and therefore they have to be handled with care so that they can be released to fight again. Without cradling a Musky in your arms, you’ll never really understand how truly awesome nature is.
Come on out to the Musky Expo, meet the guides, learn their secrets, buy some tackle and take in the seminars that will teach you how to use them! There are lots of activities for the whole family including a Kid’s Corner, where anyone under 17 years in age will get a free used musky lure donated by one of the many exhibitors. The cost of the show is $15.00 per day or $20 for both days, kids 12 and under are free!
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Indrek Kongats is an artist, traveler, outdoorsman, and business owner residing in Ellicottville. He operates River Dog Art Gallery in Houghton, NY, and his Breakaway Classic Adventures specializes in adventure travel destinations. Learn more about him at breakawayclassicadventures.com.